Tea maker Vahdam to sell digital art as NFTs; what are they?

New Delhi-based tea and spices manufacturer Vahdam India said that it will auction 10 limited edition of animated artwork pieces through the vehicle of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

NFTs are digital form of collectibles that are bought and sold through cryptocurrencies. They reside on the blockchain and can be accessed only by the owner, sort of acting like a digital locker.  

The tea company has branded its NFTs as “Vahdam India’s ticket to Mars”, which is an HD video-clip of a Mars trip.  

The buyer will have the right to the 35 second video file which is 1080*1080 pixels in size, and also features Tesla founder Elon Musk. It is available on the NFT market place called OpenSea for close to $48 dollars’ worth of Ethereum.  

“NFTs are game changers because they restore scarcity in the digital space. We saw this as a great way for our customers to connect with us and for them to have a unique experience,” Bala Sarda, founder and CEO of Vahdam, said.

NFTs are virtual or digital deeds of ownership which can only have one owner at a given time, and cannot be copied or modified.  These work as collectibles whose value increases over time.  They’re the digital equivalent to physical assets being owned in the online world.  

NFTs have been gaining considerable traction lately.

An NFT artist called Mike Winkelmann, who goes by the digital name Beeple, recently sold an NFT artwork for $69 million at an NFT platform called Christie’s. 

Not only artwork, Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet which read “"Just setting up my twttr," posted on March 2006, as an NFT. The asset is now valued at more than $2.5 billion.